'Ridiculous' - Keith Wyness rages at big-money Nottingham Forest development

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has slammed the FA for hitting Nottingham Forest with a £750,000 fine.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed the punishment is “ridiculous” and “absolutely disproportionate”.

Nottingham Forest were fined £750,000 by the FA last week (11 October) for an “attack on the integrity of a match official on an unparalleled scale”, a sanction the club say they will appeal.

The punishment comes after a social media post last season which was highly critical of refereeing in a 2-0 defeat against Everton.

It said: “Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept” – and also claimed they had “warned” refereeing bosses that VAR official Stuart Atwell was a Luton fan.

The FA originally sought a fine of more than £1million for what they called a “egregious, direct and public attack”.

Nottingham Forest hit by ‘ridiculous’ FA fine, says Wyness

Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “I’ve got my own experience of being fined by the FA for a tweet.

“It was also a draconian fine, in my view.

“Of all the things in football, there may be a change in power at the FA because they do impose these ridiculous fines.

“It is no comparison whatsoever to the justice system in this country.

“This is one area that needs to be looked at.

“In terms of Forest, we know Mr Marinakis is no stranger to a heated debate – and he’s certainly a character.

“This goes back to the Forest vs Everton game where they had three penalty appeals turned down, and they claimed the VAR guy was a Luton fan.

“I understand the heat of the battle, but £750,000 is just absolutely disproportionate.

“The FA are completely beyond reason. There are other ways they could’ve gone about this.

“I feel sorry for Forest in this one, I think a rap on the knuckles would’ve been sufficient.”

In other news, Nottingham Forest will accept “huge” offer for star man.

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